A Small favor
by LadyBullseye
Summary: Lucy receives a request for the perfect job 3 months free rent if she can just help her landlady get another property ready. However, when the job proves to be too much for her she has to go to a very unlikely person for help and in her desperation offers to do anything for him if he will assist her. Sorry for the terrible summary please R


Lucy raced to the guild in a panic her rent was almost due and she had no where near enough money to cover it. Natsu and Grey had gotten into a fight on their last mission and ended up doing more damage to the town than the bandits they had been hired to capture and anything they didn't destroy Erza demolished trying to break the fight up. In the end they had to use their reward money to help repair all of the damages and Lucy had been left with next to nothing. She had to find a solo mission, something easy enough for her to do on her own but that paid enough to cover the rest of her rent. _Crap crap crap the landlady is going to kill me _Lucy thought to herself as she skidded to a halt in front of the guild hall.

_It will be ok Lucy you'll find a mission. You'll cover your rent. You have nothing to worry about. _The busty blonde gave herself a mental pep talk before walking into the guild and making a beeline for the request board. She frantically looked for something...anything that could help her make her rent this month. Lucy saw multiple jobs that would have been great for Team Natsu, but she couldn't risk her teams destructiveness causing her to lose the reward. All of the jobs that Lucy could handle on her own had such low paying rewards that it would take 2 or 3 of them to make up the rest of her rent and she just didn't have time for that.

"Oh hello Lucy I didn't hear you come in" Mira said sweetly as she walked towards the frantic blonde "Is there anything I can help you with?"

"I need a job" Lucy cried "My rent is due and my team lost the reward on that last job we did because they destroyed half the town"

"Well you have perfect timing" Mira smiled "Someone actually came in this morning with a job request for you"

Lucy looked quizzically at Mira "They requested me?"

"Yes I looked over the job and I think it would be perfect for you. Here is the information" the barmaid replied as she handed Lucy a copy of the job request.

The celestial mage looked over the job request a little confused as to why someone would ask for her specifically...she hoped it wasn't just some filthy pervert. Wait this job...this job was PERFECT! It was a request from her landlady of all people. All Lucy had to do was help her get one of her larger properties ready to rent out and she would get 3 months of FREE rent!

"MIRA this job...it's PERFECT!" Lucy shouted as she jumped for joy

"I thought you might like it." Mira smiled "Would you like a strawberry smoothie before you go meet your client?"

"Actually do you think I could get it to go? I would like to start on this mission as soon as possible." the blonde replied following Mira to the bar

"Of course I'll get it ready for you right now" Mira chirped cheerfully

Lucy couldn't believe her amazing luck; with this job request she wouldn't have to worry about money for a while. She wondered what the landlady needed her help with, people didn't usually request celestial mages for help with property repair.

She was snapped out of her pondering when Mira set her smoothie down in front of her "Thanks Mira you're the best" she waved to the barmaid as she rushed out of the guild hall to meet with her landlady.

Lucy raced across town eager to start the job and earn her 3 months of free rent. She was still thinking of all the things she could buy with al the extra money she would have when she skidded to a halt in font of her landlady's office. She knocked on the office door and hoped her landlady was in right now, she really didn't want to wait until tomorrow to start on this request.

"Oh Lucy I'm glad you came so quickly." The landlady said as she opened the door "Please come in and have a seat."

"Thank you landlady" Lucy replied making her way inside and taking a seat across from her landlady who once again seemed to have squeezed herself into one of the outfits she took from Lucy while she was gone.

"Now about this job request I'm sure you wondering why I would need your help to get a house ready to rent." The landlady started as she made herself comfortable "The truth is I have a very rich client who is waning to rent one of my larger properties on the outskirts of town, but the place still has some repairs that need to be done before it's ready. I already have workers prepared to finish the work; however, they can't get into the house."

"They can't get in?" Lucy inquired

"Exactly, they all say that whenever they try and enter the house some invisible force pushes them back outside. The client will be here in 2 weeks, and if the repairs aren't done in time I'm worried that he'll find another place to live. I need you to find out what is keeping the workers out of the house and eliminate it, and I need it done by tomorrow. If you can do this I will waive your rent for 3 months, but just know that any damages you cause to the property will be taken out of your reward. I don't have time to do any extra work on the house, so I need you to be very careful on this job. Do you think you can handle this Lucy?"

"Yes ma'am" Lucy replied with a determined glint in her eye there was no way she was going to let 3 months of rent free living slip through her fingers "I'll get started right away"

"That's perfect, here is the address to the property as well as the key. Please let me know as soon as you finish so I can have the workers sent over to get started on the repairs" The landlady replied handing Lucy a slip of paper and a key.

Lucy took them both and waved goodbye to the landlady as she made her way across town to the property. _What could be causing people to be pushed out of a house like that _ Lucy wondered. Maybe it was some sort of enchantment. Lucy remembered that runes like the ones Freed used could be used to keep people out of places, maybe someone put runes around the property to keep out intruders. _It doesn't matter what it is I will eliminate it and collect my free rent _Lucy thought to herself as she stood in front of the property gate.

Pushing open the gate Lucy made her way inside carefully. _So far so good_ she thought maybe the problem came when people actually tried to go inside the door. Making her way up the steps of the front porch Lucy pulled out the key the landlady had given her. _Well, here goes nothing _she thought as she turned the key in the lock. Lucy jumped back in surprise when the door swung open with ease the house didn't seem to be doing anything to keep her out. Maybe those repairmen were just making things up to get out of work. _Oh well if they are that's just an easy payday for me _Lucy thought as she stepped into the doorway.

Suddenly, Lucy felt as though she had walked into a brick wall. She couldn't get over the threshold of the property something was blocking her path, but there was nothing there. The celestial mage tried to push her way in, but she quickly found herself flying off of the porch into the front lawn. Lucy braced herself for impact with the ground but it never came, instead she found herself in the strong arms of Loke.

"Why hello Princess" the lion spirit smiled down at her

"Thank you for catching me Loke, but can you please set me down" Lucy replied blushing at the handsome spirit "I need to find out what is keeping people out of that house over there. Loke do you think you could try walking in, I want to see if it can keep out celestial spirits as well."

"Anything for you my beloved princess" Loke replied setting Lucy down gently and making his way to the front door

For a brief second Lucy thought Loke might make it inside, but her hopes were dashed as he was sent flying across the lawn just as she had been. For the next 5 hours Lucy and Loke searched the house for another way in or at least some clue as to what was causing the house to react the way it was. No matter what they did they couldn't make their way inside through any window or door, Loke even tried going through the chimney. After the second hour the house seemed to get tired of their antics and started fighting back by throwing things out of windows a them or hitting them with the doors and windows they tried to climb through. Finally the two were forced to admit defeat.

"I'm sorry Princess I don't know what is keeping us out, and I don't think I could force my way inside without causing severe damage to the property" Loke frowned

"It's fine Loke, I think I'm going to go back to the guild and talk to Levy maybe she's heard of something like this happening before." the celestial mage replied smiling at her friend

Lucy went home and took a quick shower and threw on a simple white tank top with a black mini skirt before she headed back to the guild to find Levy. She really hoped the script mage would be able to help her she only had until the end of tomorrow to complete the job. As he entered the guild hall she quickly scanned the area looking for her blue haired friend. Lucy found her sitting in a dark corner with Gajeel and quickly rushed over to her nearly bumping into several people along the way.

"Hey Lucy, Mira told me you got a job request today. How did that go?" Levy smiled cheerfully greeting her best friend

Sighing the busty blonde sat down across from the petite scrip mage "Terrible" Lucy frowned as she explained to Levy the events of the day "I need to know if anything like this has happened before, and I was wondering if you could help me do some research"

"Honestly Lucy it sounds like the pace is haunted" Levy replied as she flagged Mira down to order another drink

"HAUNTED?!" the blonde exclaimed

"Yea sometimes restless souls will become trapped in places and can become very violent if threatened" Levy explained as Lucy shuddered at the idea of dealing with a ghost

"Awe poor Bunny Girl don't tell me you're the easily spooked" Gajeel snickered he had been so quiet this whole time Lucy had nearly forgotten he was even here

"I am not scared!" Lucy stated when suddenly she had an idea "Wait Levy you said usually these are restless souls right? Would a seith mage be able to get rid of them?"

"I suppose although I'm not too familiar with that type of magic" Levy replied

"That's fine I know someone who is" Lucy said as she looked around "I just hope he came to the guild today"

_Come on please be here _Lucy thought to herself as she looked around for the familiar floating totems. _There he is! _Lucy squealed with excitement as she said a quick goodbye to her friends and rushed over towards Bickslow

"Bickslow! Thanks goodness you're here!" Lucy exclaimed as she came to a skidding halt in front of the blue haired seith mage

Bickslow looked genuinely surprised when he looked up from his beer to find the busty blonde in front of him. Why on earth would she be happy he was here it's not like they were best friends or anything "Oh hey Cosplayer what's up" he asked as he tongue lolled out of his mouth

"I need to ask you a small favor. You see I have this job request from my landlady to help her get a property ready, but I can't get inside something is keeping me out. I asked Levy about it and she says it sounds like a restless soul is haunting the place, so I was wondering if you could come and take a look at it and tell me if that's what it actually is" Lucy explained quickly

"You need my help on a job?" Bickslow replied still seemingly stunned that she would be coming to him of all people

"Yes please Bickslow I'm really desperate; my landlady has offered me 3 months of free rent if I can complete the job by tomorrow. There isn't a reward for me to split with you, but I'll do anything please just at least come look at the place" the blonde begged

"So, you want me to come with you tonight to help you with a job that has no pay but you're wiling to do anything else for me?" Bickslow said trying to make sure he understood the situation

"Yes please" Lucy replied fixing Bickslow with her most charming smile

"And by anything you mean...any thing" the seith mage clarified waggling his tongue at the blonde

"As long as it's nothing creepy or perverted...I'll do anything a celestial mage never goes back on their word. Please Bickslow you're the only one who can help me with this." Lucy said beginning to regret her decision she had forgotten what a huge pervert the blue haired man was.

"Alright cosplayer I'll help you, but since you're getting three months of free rent out of the deal and I'm getting no payment what so ever I want one month. One month where you do anything I ask whether it's go on a job with me or cook me dinner. That's my price you ok with that cosplayer?" Bickslow asked leaning back in his chair giving Lucy a chance to think about it.

Lucy stood there for what felt like forever, a whole month of doing whatever Bickslow wanted who knows what that pervert would come up with. Although, she did say she wouldn't do anything creepy or perverted so he wouldn't be able to make her do anything too terrible. He was probably just going to make her clean his house or cook for him nothing she couldn't handle.

"All right I accept your terms" Lucy said reaching out to shake the seith mages hand "Now let's go I only have until tomorrow to get this done"

Bickslow stumbled behind the busty celestial mage as she drug him through the streets of magnolia earning them more than a few strange looks. He hadn't expected her to agree to his terms so easily. He had been sure she would try and haggle with him or just turn him down she must be really desperate for rent money. Now he was going to have to figure out what to do with the cosplayer for an entire month.


End file.
